Killers from Space.

Review #1599: Killers from Space.

Cast:

Peter Graves (Dr. Douglas Martin), Frank Gerstle (Dr. Curt Kruger), James Seay (Col. Banks), Steve Pendleton (FBI Agent Briggs), Barbara Bestar (Ellen Martin), Shepard Menken (Major Clift, M.D.), John Frederick (Denab and The Tala), Jack Daly (Powerhouse Supervisor), and Ron Kennedy (Sentry Sergeant) Directed and Produced by W. Lee Wilder.

Review:

If anyone has to do a turkey from the 1950s, you better believe it is going to be one that either has something to do with space or was made on the cheap. How about a film with both qualities? W. Wilder, the (slightly) older brother of Billy Wilder, served as director alongside producer through his company Planet Filmplays. Believe it or not, this was actually his second career, since he was a handbag manufacturer with his own line before deciding to take up filmmaking after he had turned 40, starting with producing for The Great Flamarion (1945) before making his first of ultimately sixteen films with The Glass Alibi (1946). His son Myles co-wrote the film with William Raynor; Myles would write six screenplays for his father, and four of them fell into the genre of either science fiction or horror that W. Wilder utilized for half of his output in the 1950s (quickly made films for release with United Artists or RKO, which he did five of). One working title evidently was The Man Who Saved the Earth, which is more or less just as generic as the actual film title.

As a whole, what we have is a middling movie of mediocrity, and you can see it all for yourself for free as it is in the public domain, with one version even having green tinting (?). Graves (the only person to have starred in films for both Wilder brothers) is fairly wooden, but the film is giving him the minimal stuff to begin with, confronting the truth of what happened to go with his colleagues bringing in the FBI and such. Probably nobody could make being spooked by rear-projected insects seem really something big, I suppose. While Graves did eventually find some level of fame with the espionage show Mission: Impossible a decade later, he isn't exactly bringing the tight compact thrills the script (sort of) wants to bring to deliver enjoyment. On the other hand, at least it makes it easier to appreciate his subsequent work with a weird-looking monster in It Conquered the World (1956). Gerstle and the crew of skeptics move just as well in pedestrian contribution to the wood community of acting, and the voices for the aliens...well, let's just say they make an interesting contrast to their visual effect. The aliens come through at the 34 minute mark, and suffice to say they are not a particularly great effect. Makeup artist Harry Thomas described the effect at coming from the top of plastic egg trays (with the help of a screwdriver to get them off and pierce the center for eyeholes). Of course he also wanted them to have flesh color edge of the eyes with beards and "vacuum" speaking, and if the production wasn't so cheap they wouldn't have balked at having glass eyes. The other amusement comes from their big threat: Once there is enough radiation from a nuclear test (because they run on energy), they will take over the planet with their giant monsters (which just happen to look like enlarged footage of insects and animals). This of course is revealed through truth serum, after a plan to leave the plans to the atomic bomb test under a rock (!) failed...Anyway, the rest of the film doesn't show the googly-eye boys up close (unless one counts a head shot), since they already showed us the master plan (I guess all the other planets they conquered didn't get the memo). Can you count a run-time of 71 minutes if at least two minutes are just Graves looking at footage of spiders, grasshoppers, and lizards? But effects aren't everything, one will say. If the film that came from such...interesting effects was any better, you may have a hidden gem in your hands. Unfortunately, what we have is a bland film that only seems notable because of eyeballs and an alien abduction story that others have noted to seem like the predecessor to "alien abduction" stories. Just because your story seems familiar to those conspiracy theory-I mean "true" stories about being taken away by aliens with big eyes on a table with weird procedure stuff doesn't mean you get extra credit (for fun, I will throw out a concept of a shadowy group...shall we say, The Company, that wants to make street signs less easy to read for the insurance money and come back to it in 30 years to see if anyone believes it). As a whole, it's a bit too quiet in the department of actual thrill or even interesting concepts with its title characters to be worth much more than just to view the big plastic egg tray aliens try to go to town with giant insects. But hey, as a 1950s turkey, it feels right at home for those looking for that particular requirement.

Next Time: A Place for Lovers.

Overall, I give it 4 out of 10 stars.

Stalag 17.

Review #1384: Stalag 17.

Cast: 
William Holden (J.J. Sefton), Don Taylor (Lieutenant James Dunbar), Otto Preminger (Colonel von Scherbach), Robert Strauss (Stanislas "Animal" Kuzawa), Harvey Lembeck (Harry Shapiro), Peter Graves (Price), Sig Ruman (Sergeant Johann Sebastian Schulz), Neville Brand (Duke), Richard Erdman ("Hoffy" Hoffman), Michael Moore (Manfredi), Peter Baldwin (Johnson), Robinson Stone (Joey), Robert Shawley ("Blondie" Peterson), William Pierson (Marko the Mailman), and Gil Stratton (Clarence Harvey "Cookie" Cook / Narrator) Produced and Directed by Billy Wilder (#106 - Some Like It Hot, #194 - Ace in the Hole, #422 - The Fortune Cookie, #641 - The Apartment, and #809 - Sunset Boulevard)

Review: 
"Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else's."

Nobody could quite as versatile as Billy Wilder for film. Born in Austria-Hungary, he found himself wanting to become a journalist from viewing a newsreel (as opposed to prelaw in college or the family business in cakes). He worked for magazines and newspapers in both Austria and Germany, but he eventually found himself wanting to be a screenwriter, with his first credit being for The Daredevil Reporter (1929). During his time in Germany, one notable film he wrote for was People on Sunday (1930), which had notable collaborators such as Edgar G. Ulmer. However, he left the country in 1933 for Paris after the rise of the Nazis. He had his directorial debut with his collaboration with Alexander Esway in Mauvaise Graine (1934) before deciding to leave for America. Over the next few years, he would find himself collaborating on film scripts that gradually found attention, most notably with Charles Brackett. For over a decade, the two would write scripts together (with a few occasions having an additional writer), with the first major hits coming in 1939 with Midnight and Ninotchka. Anxious at the idea of directing and not being confined with just writing, Wilder was given a chance with The Major and the Minor (1942). It was here that he met another important figure in honing the craft in editor Doane Harrison, who had edited Wilder and Brackett's Hold Back the Dawn the previous year. With Harrison on set, Wilder credited him for helping him in technical knowledge in terms of cutting so that there wouldn't be excess footage to deal with. The two would work together for the next two decades. Over the course of the next four decades, Wilder would direct and write plenty of noted successes in genres from noir to comedy drama, such as Double Indemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), and Sabrina (1954). In his career, he would win six Academy Awards on 21 nominations, with three of them being for screenplay, two for direction, and one for Best Picture.

The film is an adaptation of the Broadway play of the same name by Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski, who had based it on their experiences in a prison camp named Stalag 17B in Austria. When it comes to a war film about prisoners, there certainly wasn't anything like this film before it came out, one that balances dark humor with suspense alongside a claustrophobic atmosphere that makes for a compelling two hour viewing. One key star that was part of some of Wilder's successes for the decade was William Holden, who appeared in three of his features (with one more years later in Fedora). It was the result of these films that elevated him to prime star status, with this being his one Academy Award winning performance of three nominations, although he felt that he didn't deserve to win (instead favoring Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity). In fact, he actually disagreed with the characterization of the role (which had Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas thought of before Holden), since he felt it was selfish and he wanted Wilder to make him nicer, which was rejected. In any case, one finds plenty to draw themselves into Holden and his world, a heel-hero with smarmy complex charm beyond the usual expectations for a film with suspense like this one, which plays to the film's favor in drawing out its traitor twist (kept under wraps by filming in sequential order) through subtlety in both Holden and the camera movement. The rest of the cast keep up with him in establishing the close-knit and hard-driven members contrast with the menace and bluster on the other end. In that sense, the ones who shine best are Strauss, Graves, Brand, Ruman, and Preminger, each delivering a distinct layer that makes the film operate as well as it does without feeling monotonous. There is a key balance of drama and humor that earns the film key moments that can go from a sequence involving a telescope on friendly Russian women to the discovery of the traitor to the whole group. In the long run, this is an entertaining film in a long line of Billy Wilder achievements that merits a watch as a key piece for the decade in balancing drama and humor without too much trouble.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Airplane II: The Sequel.

Review #698: Airplane II: The Sequel.

Cast
Robert Hays (Ted Striker), Julie Hagerty (Elaine Dickinson), Lloyd Bridges (Steve McCroskey), Chad Everett (Simon Kurtz), Peter Graves (Captain Clarence Oveur), William Shatner (Commander Buck Murdock), Rip Torn (Bud Kruger), John Dehner (The Commissioner), Chuck Connors (The Sarge), Richard Jaeckel (Controller #2), Stephen Stucker (Jacobs / Courtroom Clerk), and Sonny Bono (Joe Seluchi) Directed by Ken Finkleman.

Review
If you pretend the first movie doesn't exist, the movie would have a shot at being okay. But because we can't just pretend movies don't exist (contrary to popular belief), Airplane II: The Sequel is proof that some movies should have just stayed dead and buried. The first movie stands as a fun spoof that manages to utilize its surroundings and make for a wonderfully awesome movie. The second movie tries way too hard in some places while trying too little in others, which all boils down to a breeze of a movie that makes you yearn for the first film again. While it's true that some of the original cast comes back, it doesn't really make the movie all too better, given that it lacks Leslie Nielsen and Robert Stack, who made the original even more enjoyable with their portrayals. It's strange that this sets place in the "near future", yet the characters haven't seemed to age a bit. Oh yeah, and there's a lunar base on the moon and commercial space travel. 33 years later, and we have neither of those things, nor do we have Rocky XXXVII. The gags for the movie are okay, but they also reuse gags as well (not to mention using flashbacks to the first film), which only reminds me as well as you what you're missing out on. The best character in the movie is only there for the last quarter of the movie, and naturally is played by William Shatner, who amuses me with his talk of the blinking, beeping, flashing lights, or maybe it's because by the end of the movie you're wishing Captain Kirk would save these idiots. What amuses me is the post-credit scene "announcing" Airplane III, composted with a line of "That's exactly what they'll be expecting us to do!", because there never was an Airplane III, and I can't imagine why. I think you already know the answer to that one. Give yourself a round of applause. And don't watch this movie, unless you like stoic disappointment.

Overall, I give it 4 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: It Conquered the World.

Review #684: It Conquered the World.

Cast
Peter Graves (Dr. Paul Nelson), Lee Van Cleef (Dr. Tom Anderson), Beverly Garland (Claire Anderson), Sally Fraser (Joan Nelson), Russ Bender (General James Pattick), and Taggart Casey (Sheriff N.J. Shallert) Directed by Roger Corman (#368 - The Little Shop of Horrors)

Review
With less than three days left in the year, why not review a monster mash flick from the 1950s? And from Roger Corman, no less. Only this time the monster draws laughs not because it's meant to, but because it looks like an ice cream cone with dopey looking eyes for good measure. At least the cast tries to seem less than ready to laugh at the monster (Garland notably laughed at the monster when she first saw it on the set, kicking it over, which led to it being made 3 feet taller...which only made it about 5 feet). I like Peter Graves in this film, though no one could make the last line "man is a feeling creature, and because of it, the greatest in the universe" sound anything but overblown, though the lines that precede and follow it aren't as silly. The movie is quick (save your complaints about me saying that all the time), which makes for an easy film to breeze through. It's tough to determine if this is a good movie, but if you're looking for a 50s monster mash movie to gawk (or laugh) at, I'd recommend it. Or the MST3K version.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Airplane!

Review #664: Airplane!

Cast
Robert Hays (Ted Striker), Julie Hagerty (Elaine Dickinson), Leslie Nielsen (Dr. Rumack), Peter Graves (Capt. Clarence Oveur), Lloyd Bridges (Steve McCroskey), Robert Stack (Capt. Rex Kramer), Lorna Patterson (Randy), Stephen Stucker (Johnny), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Roger Murdock), Frank Ashmore (Victor Basta), and Jonathan Banks (Gunderson) Directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams (#028 - Hot Shots! and #375 - Hot Shots! Part Deux), and Jerry Zucker.

Review
I knew I would eventually review this film, I just didn't know it would take so long to do so. It was worth the wait. When it comes to slapstick and having efficient gags, this is the movie people refer to for reference. But what also helps the movie is the fact the gags mesh with the story and not just outright overwhelm it. The movie is silly and also really, really, fun to watch. It's a breeze to watch, and watching how the actors react to all of this (hint: not very well) also helps. My favorite character isn't really a character, it's Otto, the inflatable balloon. It's just so amusing watching Otto, especially at the end, when he inflates...all by himself, with a inflatable girlfriend to boot. Hays and Hagerty do a fine job complimenting each other, their best scene is when they dance disco, or maybe I'm just amused of how people danced to disco (as opposed to now). Nielsen is a highlight as well, if it was anyone else playing that role, surely (see what I did there) the lines wouldn't be so memorable. The movie has dozens of gags, along with brief appearances by Ethel Merman (playing Ethel Merman) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar...as a pilot. What I like is how the music sounds so serious, which is really funny given the tone, all due to Elmer Bernstein. The movie is quick and effective, and it's a good way to spend 90 minutes, along with being a really fun experience.

Billy...have you ever been in a Turkish prison?

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.